Lauren RubensteinWhen Anna Haensch tells new acquaintances that she’s a mathematician, many people immediately recoil. “There’s this repellent nature to math,” she said. “There’s this big wall up around it—people find it terrifying or uninteresting.” That’s exactly why Haensch, a Ph.D. student who just successfully defended her dissertation, wants to learn how to communicate better to the general public about math. She is the recipient of a Mass Media Fellowship, administered by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Haensch's fellowship is sponsored by the American Mathematical Society (AMS). The 10-week summer program, which starts June 3, places graduate and post-graduate…
Olivia DrakeThe Center for the Study of Public Life's profiled a range of Wesleyan senior thesis research projects on topics related to the study of public life on April 26. The inaugural event featured 10-minute presentations by Wesleyan seniors whose 2012-13 thesis research represents an undertaking to pursue knowledge about public life in its broad definition. Three students spoke about the topic "Regionalism, Nationalism, Infrastructures and Identity." Government major Katherine James spoke on “Policy and Planning for Large Water Infrastructure Projects in the People’s Republic of China,"a study of three water projects – the South-to-North Water Transfer Project, the Three Gorges…
As a part of its commitment to be a bottled water-free campus, Wesleyan is continually seeking alternatives to hydrate the campus community. During Reunion & Commencement, May 23-26, a group of students will debut their sustainable solution, "The Wishing Well," a custom-built mobile water station. The two-piece water tank, constructed by Wesleyan's Scientific Support Services, features eight water filtration dispensers. On May 25, the stations will be positioned on Andrus Field, and on May 26, near North College. The stations will dispense filtered water from the public water supply. The students, Nina Gerona '15; Tavo True-Alcalá '15; Brent Packer '15; and…
Twenty-three colleges and universities in New England, including Wesleyan, have joined an EPA effort to cut the amount of food that goes to waste. This doubles the participation of EPA’s Food Recovery Challenge in 2013, since 11 New England colleges and universities were already participating in the challenge. In 2011, these schools recovered a total of 4,538 tons of food. The partnership, which was announced in honor of Earth Day, aims to reduce the 1.64 million tons of food wasted each year in the six New England states. EPA’s Food Recovery Challenge, encourages organizations to reduce, donate, and recycle as…
More than 500 admitted students and their families descended on Wesleyan’s campus for WesFest, the annual celebration of all things Wesleyan. Between Wednesday, April 17 and Friday, April 19, they were treated to dozens of tours, panels, lectures and demonstrations to acquaint them with Wesleyan’s academics, student organizations, athletics and facilities. On Friday around noon, the sun came out and visitors took a break to enjoy a barbecue lunch on Foss Hill while a student band played. Cloie Logan and her parents came all the way from Albuquerque, N.M. Cloie fell in love with Wesleyan after visiting as a high…
Thanks to a new partnership, graduates from Wesleyan’s College of the Environment who meet certain academic standards will be guaranteed admission to Vermont Law School’s prestigious JD (Juris Doctor/Doctor of Law), JD/master’s or master’s degree programs. Vermont’s Environmental Law Program, the largest in the country, is widely considered to be one of the best environmental law programs in the United States. President Michael S. Roth signed the agreement between Wesleyan and Vermont Law School on Wednesday, April 3. “We’re excited to provide this option for students in the College of the Environment to take their interdisciplinary exploration of environmental issues…
Professor of Economics Richard Grossman has been named a 2013 Guggenheim Fellow. He will work on a project about the evolution of banking regulation across the industrialized world. Awarded by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the fellowship assists research and artistic creation “for men and women who have already demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts.” This year, 175 scholars, artists and scientists were selected to receive fellowships from a group of almost 3,000 applicants from the U.S. and Canada. “The Guggenheim Foundation has been giving awards to distinguished scholars and artists for…
In this issue of The Wesleyan Connection, we ask “5 Questions” of Urip Maeny, artist in residence in dance. She she has taught at Wesleyan since 1972, and will retire this year. Q: Please tell us when and how you first began studying Javanese dance. A: I began studying Javanese dance informally when I was still in elementary school in my hometown of Pekalongan in Central Java, Indonesia in the early 1960s. In 1961, I studied at the gamelan conservatory (high school level) in Surakarta. The school allowed me to focus my study on dance—especially Javanese dance, but also Balinese…
Cynthia RockwellIn his role as 2013 Distinguished Teaching Fellow, Andy Szegedy-Maszak, professor of classical studies and the Jane A. Seney Professor of Greek, brought a slice of Wesleyan to members of the Wesleyan community—alumni, parents, admitted students—living in select cities on the West Coast. The Distinguished Teaching Fellowship—of which Szegedy-Maszak is the first recipient—offers the professor the opportunity to teach a course outside of his/her usual departmental offerings. Szegedy-Maszak is teaching a course through the Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life on photography and its effect on social movements. It was this topic he explored in his WESeminar on the Road,…
Two Wesleyan students received honorable mentions from the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation. Sam Factor '14, a physics and computer science double major, and Elliot Meyerson '14, a computer science and mathematics double major, each received a letter of congratulations and a certificate from the foundation. The 2013-14 Goldwater Scholars were selected on the basis of academic merit from a field of 1,107 mathematics, science, and engineering students who were nominated by the faculties of colleges and universities nationwide. Factor, who hails from Madison, Wisc., hopes to pursue a Ph.D in physics and conduct research in physics,…
Geoffrey Stone, the Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago, delivered the 22nd annual Hugo L. Black Lecture on Freedom of Expression on April 18. The topic of this year's event was "Justice Alito’s First Amendment.” Stone explored the current state of constitutional jurisprudence, with a particular eye on the approach of the most "conservative" of the current justices. How they undertake the challenge of interpreting the often vague and open-ended guarantees of the Constitution? What explains their decisions in the most controversial cases, involving such issues as the constitutionality of campaign finance regulation, affirmative action, and gun control?…
Kate CarlisleAt a March 1 Board of Trustees dinner kicking off the public phase of Wesleyan’s campaign, President Michael S. Roth celebrated the substantial success of the effort so far: more than $285 million raised toward the goal of $400 million, with support of financial aid as the top campaign goal. The funds raised will also go to the endowment to support teaching, research and student engagement. Roth said the generous early support of the campaign reflected alumni commitment to ensuring access to Wesleyan for generations of students. A video of Roth’s remarks is available on the new campaign website, http://thisiswhy.wesleyan.edu, a…